child restraint CHEVROLET TRACKER 1998 1.G Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 0 Section 1 Seats and Restraint Systems
Here you’ll find information about the seats in your Chevrolet and how to use your safety belts properly. You can also
learn about some things you should not do with air bags and safety belts.
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1-2 Seats and Seat Controls
1-12 Safety Belts: They’re for Everyone
1- 17 Here Are Questions Many People Ask About
Safety Belts
-- and the Answers
How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Driver Position
Safety Belt Use During Pregnancy
Right Front Passenger Position 1-25
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Air Bag System
Rear Seat Passengers
Children Child Restraints
Larger Children
Safety Belt Extender
Checking Your Restraint Systems
Replacing Restraint System Parts After a Crash
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine How to Wear Safety Belts Properly
Adults
This part is only for people of adult size.
Be aware that there are special things to know about
safety belts and children. And there are different
rules for smaller children and babies. If
a child will
be riding in your vehicle, see the part of this
manual called “Children.” Follow those rules for
everyone’s protection.
First, you’ll want to know which restraint systems your
vehicle has.
We’ll start
with the driver position.
Driver Position
This part describes the driver’s restraint system.
Lap-Shoulder Belt
The driver has a lap-shoulder belt. Here’s how to wear
it properly.
1. Close and lock the door.
2. Adjust the seat (to see how, see “Seats” in the Index)
so you can sit up straight.
3. Pick up the latch plate and pull the belt across you.
Don’t let it get twisted.
The shoulder belt may lock
if you pull the belt across
you very quickly. If this happens, let the belt
go back
slightly to unlock it. Then pull the belt across you
more slowly.
4. Push the latch plate into the buckle until it clicks.
Pull up on the latch plate to make sure it is secure.
If the belt isn’t long enough, see “Safety Belt
Extender” at the end of this section.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine The best way to protect the fetus is to protect the
mother. When
a safety belt is worn properly, it’s more
likely that the fetus won’t be hurt in a crash. For
pregnant women, as for anyone, the key
to making
safety belts effective
is wearing them properly.
Right Front Passenger Position
To learn how to wear the right front passenger’s safety belt
properly,
see “Driver Position” earlier in this section.
The right front passenger’s safety belt works the same
way as
the driver’s safety belt -- except for one thing. If
you ever pull the shoulder portion of the belt out all the
way, you will engage the child restraint locking feature.
If this happens, just let the belt go back all the way and
start again.
Air Bag System
This part explains the air bag system.
Your vehicle has two air bags
-- one air bag for the
driver and another air bag for the right front passenger.
The air bag in your vehicle may be “Next Generation”
reduced-force frontal ak bags. If your vehicle has a
label on the driver’s door window, then your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. If your vehicle doesn’t
have a label, then the
air bags in your vehicle aren’t
reduced-force. Here
are the
most important things to know about the air
bag system:
You can be severely injured or killed in a crash if
you aren’t wearing your safety belt -- even if you
have
air bags. Wearing your safety belt during a
crash helps reduce your chance of bitting
things
inside the vehicle or being ejected from it. Air
bags -- even reduced-force air bags -- are
“supplemental restraints” to the safety belts. All air
bags -- even reduced-force air bags -- are designed
to work with safety belts, but don’t replace them.
Air bags are designed to work only in moderate to
severe crashes where the front of your vehicle hits
something. They aren’t designed to Mate at all in
rollover, rear, side or low-speed frontal crashes.
And, for
unrestrained occupants, reduced-force air
bags may provide less protection in frontal crashes
than more forcefid
air bags have provided in the
past. Everyone
in your vehicle should wear a safety
belt properly
-- whether or not there’s an air bag
for that person.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Air bags inflate with great force, faster than the
blink of an eye.
If you’re too close to an inflating
air bag, it could seriously injure you. This is true
even
with reduced-force frontal air bags. Safety
belts help keep you in position before and during
a crash. Always wear your safety belt, even with
reduced-force air bags. The driver should sit as
far back as possible while still maintaining
control of the vehicle.
6& CAWTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, an
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even
if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
CAUTION: (Continued) adults, but not
for young children
and infants.
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
To read how,
see the part of this manual called (‘Children” and
see the caution labels on the sunvisors and the
right front passenger’s safety belt.
AIR
BAG
There is an air bag
readiness light on the
instrument panel, which
shows AIR BAG.
The system checks the air
bag electrical system for
malfunctions. The light tells you if
there is an electrical
problem. See “Air Bag Readiness Light” in the
Index
for more information.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Children
Everyone in a vehicle needs protection! That includes
infants and all children smaller than adult size. Neither
the distance traveled nor the age and size
of the traveler
changes the need, for everyone, to
use safety restraints.
In fact, the law in every
state in the United States and in
every Canadian province says children
up to some age
must
be restrained while in a vehicle.
Smaller Children and Babies
A CAUTION:
Children who are up against, or very close to, any
air bag when it inflates can be seriously injured
or killed. This is true even if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal air bags. Air bags plus
lap-shoulder belts offer the best protection for
adults, but not for young children and infants.
Neither the vehicle’s safety belt system nor its air
bag system is designed for them. Young children
and infants need the protection that a child
restraint system can provide. Always secure
children properly in your vehicle.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine I
SwaIler children and babies should always be
restrained
in a child or infant restraint. The
instructions for the restraint
will say whether it is
the right type and size for your child. A very
young child’s hip bones are so small that a
regular belt might not stay low on the hips, as it
should. Instead, the belt will likely be over the
child’s abdomen.
In a crash, the belt would apply
force right on the child’s abdomen, which could
cause serious or fatal injuries.
So, be sure that
any child
mall enough for one is always properly
restrained
in a child or infant restraint.
Infants need complete support, including support for
the head and neck. This is necessary because an
infant’s neck is weak and its fiead weighs so much
compared with the rest of its body. In a crash, an infant
in a rear-facing restraint settles into the restraint,
so the
crash forces can be distributed across
the strongest part
of the infant’s body,
the back and shoulders. A baby
should be secured
in an appropriate infant restraint.
This is
so important that many hospitals today won’t
release a newborn
infant to its parents unless there is
an infant restraint available
for the baby’s first trip in a
motor vehicle.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Child Restraints
Every time infants and young children ride in
vehicles, they should have protection provided by
appropriate restraints.
@ What are the different types of add-on
A: Add-on child restraints are available in four basic
types. When selecting a child restraint, take into consideration not only the child’s weight and size,
but also whether or not the restraint will be
compatible with the motor vehicle in which it
will be used.
ghild restraints?
An infant car bed (A) is a special bed made for use
in a motor vehicle. It’s an infant restraint system
designed to restrain or position a child on
a
continuous flat surface. With an infant car bed,
make sure that the infant’s head rests toward the
center
of the vehicle.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine A forward-facing child restraint (C-E) positions a
child upright to face forward in the vehicle. These
forward-facing restraints are designed to help protect
children who are from
20 to 40 lbs. (9 to 18 kg) and
about
26 to 40 inches (66 to 102 cm) in height, or up
to around four years of age. One type, a convertible
restraint, is designed to
be used either as a rear-facing
infant seat or a forward-facing child seat.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine When choosing a child restraint, be sure the child
restraint
is designed to be used in a vehicle. If it is, it
will
have a label saying that it meets Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards.
Then follow the instructions for the restraint. You
may
find these instructions on the restraint itself or in a
booklet, or both. These restraints use the belt system in
your vehicle, but
the child also has to be secured within
the restraint to help reduce the chance of personal injury.
The instructions that
come with the infant or child
restraint will show you how
to do that. Both the owner’s
manual and the child restraint instructions are important,
so if either one of these is not available, obtain a
replacement copy from the manufacturer.
Where to Put the Restraint
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than the front seat. We at
General Motors therefore recommend that you put your
child restraint in the rear seat.
Never put a rear-facing
child restraint in the front passenger seat. Here’s why:
A child in a rearfacing child restraint can be
seriously injured
if the right front passenger’s air
bag inflates, even if your vehicle has
reduced-force frontal
air bags. This is because
the back
of a rearfacing child restraint would be
very close to the inflating air bag. Always secure
a rearfacing child restraint in the rear seat.
You may, however, secure
a forward-facing child
restraint in the right front seat, but before you
do, always move the front passenger seat as far
back as it will go.
It is better to secure the child
restraint in
a rear seat.
Wherever you install it, be sure to secure the child
restraint properly. Keep
in mind that an unsecured child restraint can move
around
in a collision or sudden stop and injure people in
the vehicle. Be sure to properly secure any child
restraint
in your vehicle -- even when no child is in it.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Top Strap If your child restraint has a top strap, it should be
anchored. If
you have a two-door model, don't use a
restraint like that in your vehicle because the top strap
anchor cannot be installed properly.
You shouldn't use
this type of restraint without anchoring the top strap.
If your vehicle is
a four-door model and you need to
have an anchor installed,
you can ask your dealer to put
one in for you. If you want to install an anchor yourself,
your dealer can tell
you how to do it. Use the tether
hardware kit available from the dealer. The hardware
and installation instructions were specifically designed
for this vehicle.
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